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Chapter 52: Research Breakthroughs
Deep in the dungeon's vaults, groups of lumpish trolls and robed warlocks lurked within the shadowy alcoves of Mercury's spacious workshop. Wreathed in darkness, they watched as their Keeper entered the brightly-lit centre of the room. It was illuminated by five burning braziers standing at each point of a pentagram and lighting the way for the black-dressed girl as she approached the fruits of her minions' labour. Laid out on an obsidian bier in the centre of the magical diagram was a glistening suit of armour, bulkier than Ami, but just the right size for her. The design of the troll-wrought suit of plate mail seemed more sinister than what she had expected. Bent protrusions arched around the armour's chest, growing organically from the metal and surrounding it like an external ribcage. Similar protrusions ran along the lengths of the arms and legs, suggesting the shape of the bones below. The helmet resembled a skull, underlining the general skeletal appearance of the ensemble. At least they didn't lacquer it black, Ami thought while gazing at her distorted reflection, which peered back at her from within the metal with red eyes. "Function influences form?" She asked the head warlock, the same black-bearded individual who had offered his services for restoring the destroyed portal. "Yes, in order to fully exploit the law of similarities, it is preferable that the armour resembles the skeleton that the foundations of its controlling magic are based on," he explained, following the young Keeper with his eyes as she walked around the construct and examined it from all angles. She touched her right earring, and the wondrous magical glasses the dark wizard had seen her wear on occasion appeared, lighting up with strange symbols. She removed the helmet and peered into the hollow within, inspecting the runic inscriptions. The techniques applied to the creation of this suit involved more necromancy than Ami had ever wanted to know. "Alloying powdered bone from multiple sources to the steel got rid of the stubbornness that slowed down the proto-golem's reactions?" The warlock inclined his head. "Yes, it was as you suspected. However, the magic now demands a sacrifice of a drop of the user's blood to surrender complete control." "An acceptable drawback, if everything else works as planned," Ami commented. So far, so good. She turned her attention to the array of circular depressions lining the interior of the breastplate. "I am impressed with your work so far." She turned to face the warlock again, and asked the one question he had been dreading "How long can it work on full power?" "Ah, well," he wiped some sweat away that had gathered in his bushy eyebrows, "rather short with the available mana batteries, but if we had access to higher quality ones, we could conceivably extend operation time to nearly a full minute." Afraid of being reduced to a smoking scorch mark on the ground by an angered Keeper any second now, he hurriedly continued "However, we could make it run much longer if you demanded slightly poorer performance. What could the armour possibly face that would require its current abilities?" A horned reaper boosted with copied sailor senshi enhancements, that's what, Ami replied in her head. Good that those seem to be additive, rather than multiplicative, judging from Cathy and me both getting a similar increase in physical ability out of them. Out loud, she said "That won't do. Install this, too." Out of thin air, she produced a sapphire disc that was about as big as her palm, carved with symbols so delicate that they were hard to read without a magnifying glass, and that hummed with power. The head warlock looked at it, raising an eyebrow in puzzlement. "What is this, my Keeper?" "A remote mana tap linked directly to the dungeon heart. That should solve the power issue." Provided that Azzathra doesn't cut the flow, and that it doesn't explode. Snyder was trying hard with the items he made, and he was getting better, but prudence demanded stress-testing the thing for a while before she activated it anywhere near her body. Ami handed the component over to her employee, who took it reverently. "It shall be done." ---- Jadeite's classroom did not have much equipment in it that Ami hadn't provided herself. That meant that aside from her desk and a bookshelf in the corner, it was mostly bare. The dark general had the enviable ability to turn the place into whatever he needed for the lesson, and it would return to its natural state once he stopped maintaining the glamour-based magic. Most of Ami's previous experience with the technique was being on the receiving end of it while investigating some of his plots that required a shop or similarly specialised environments. She could replicate it with her Keeper powers and fabrication spell, but it took much longer, and the results were permanent. I wonder if he can teach me that glamour magic too. Whoops! One of the three boulders she was levitating swerved out of position and collided with another, causing both to drop to the ground. The crashes drew Jadeite's attention. "Hmm. And you were doing so well, too," he commented and noticed that the girl's cheeks started to burn. With shame? That wasn't really a harsh reprimand, the dark general thought, puzzled. She can't have that low self-esteem, can she? That blonde thug does far worse during her lessons on a regular basis. Strange. He's looking at me, and here I am, messing up an easy exercise like this! And he still says I was doing well! Ami looked at the floor, gritting her teeth in irritation at her oh-so-inconvenient emotions. You are being silly! Calm down and just act normally! It didn't help at all that Jadeite was now walking around her with his hands behind his back and eyeing her speculatively. Maybe she doesn't care because she accepts that physical combat isn't her strength, but she measures her worth by how well she does in more scholastic pursuits? Is that what I'm doing wrong? To the steely-eyed blond, that seemed like an increasingly likely theory, as his efforts to find out who was plotting against him had come up entirely empty. The swordswoman and Jered both had opportunities to be alone with Mercury during their respective combat lessons, but neither had taken advantage of that while he had been spying on them. The acolyte was happy enough to fade into the background and not be bothered by the other denizens of the dungeons, and wouldn't try to get a position that would put him more in the spotlight. None of the other minions had enough contact with the senshi to be worthy of consideration. "W-what are you doing?" Ami asked, flustered by the man's scrutiny. "Hmm, yes, I think you are ready. Your body is sufficiently conditioned for using dark energy now to safely attempt a teleport." "Really?" the colour drained from the blue-haired girl's face. She still remembered what had happened to the poor imp she had possessed for her first try, before she had started taking lessons. "Yes," Jadeite gave her a winning smile, "your energy channels have developed enough now to handle feedback generated by a failed attempt without permanent harm. In the worst case scenario, you will give yourself a nasty shock and be out for a day or so. We will minimise the danger by keeping the distance, and therefore the involved power, low." "Are you sure?" Ami asked shyly, and at the curly-haired general's nod, her face set into a mask of determination. This was why she had started taking her lessons, after all. Good. Some positive reinforcement seems to achieve results. I'll need to watch what I say more. "You do remember the procedure, right? Try moving yourself from your current position to that corner of the room. Begin when you are ready." Jadeite stepped aside and watched the girl brace herself. She closed her eyes in concentration, and, with her mouth open, took three long, calming breaths. A short-lived grimace betrayed the exact moment she gathered enough courage to attempt the spell. There was a flash of blue, and a twister of snowflakes swirled around the spot where Mercury had just disappeared. Looking good- wait, there was something else amidst the dissipating whiteness. Jadeite stared at the black-and-gold objects drifting apart and landing on the floor. "Eep!" Came a strangled exclamation from the corner. The curly-haired general resisted the urge to turn his head and look, and valiantly fought his rising urge to snicker. "A near-perfect first try," he commented, coughing once to when a chuckle threatened to overwhelm his self-control. With iron discipline, he kept his eyes on the scattered clothing, "but you may wish to take your outfit along on the next try. The problem was an overly specific focus on yourself, I assume." Noises of hurried movement behind him made him wish to give in to his curiosity, but he couldn't risk all the progress he had made by embarrassing the girl more. Young as she was, there probably wasn't much interesting to see yet, anyway. Valiantly, his stare remained fixed on the items on the floor. Something normally hidden caught his eye, and he blinked in surprise. Leather? ---- Ami's private lab was so secret that it didn't even have an entrance and could only be reached by teleportation. On the shelves, tidily-arranged miniatures of dungeon hearts and parts thereof rested between neatly-stacked notes. A magical circle in a free corner kept dust and other contaminants away from her workbench, where strangely-symmetric crystals formed half-finished shells that rested in filigree fixtures. Life in the dungeon was only loosely coupled to the surface world's day and night cycle; nevertheless, Ami stifled a yawn as she peered at the screen flickering in front of her. In its light, the pallor of her features became even more pronounced. She probably should have gone to bed hours ago, but this was work she couldn't delegate to her assistants. Some knowledge was simply too dangerous for them, and she would not let information about dungeon heart construction fall into their hands if she could help it. Slowly but surely, she was assembling schematics and compiling them into a greater whole that approached viability. The active heart in the nearby abandoned dungeon had been a great source of information, and for the last week, she had possessed the golem she left behind nearly every evening to compare her simulations to the artefact's internal structure. Two days ago, the golem had no longer been there when she had tried to make contact. She didn't know who or what had destroyed it, but at least she had learned that some Keeper on the islands was still checking up on things once in a while. She had accordingly doubled the defences in the tunnel leading to her ice ship and made it ready to disembark at a moments notice. Ami rubbed her eyes and returned to staring at the diagrams and equations on her screen. Losing access to the exemplar of the new dungeon heart type was inconvenient, but she had enough data to continue her research. Maybe if she tweaked these parameters just so- "Mercury." The blue-haired girl flinched at the sudden and unexpected interruption, and it took her distracted mind a moment to place the voice. Leaning forward over her palmtop to hide its screen, she looked over her shoulder and shouted "Jadeite! What are you doing here? This place is off-limits!" The blond looked at the trinkets displayed around the room curiously, and answered "Making sure you don't waste away. You missed breakfast." Ami looked at the sandwiches on the tray he was holding. Her hand went to her mouth in surprise. "It's that late already?" Lowering her head, she said in a soft voice. "Th-thanks. Just leave it on the desk." Does he care? Jadeite stepped closer, and the girl was suddenly aware that they were all alone in this room. "You didn't sleep at all, did you? Take a break and get some rest. You look overworked." The dark circles under Ami's eyes agreed with his assessment. "Sorry, but I am so close to a breakthrough that I insist on continuing this. Please leave." The dark general narrowed his eyes at the back of her head when she returned her gaze on her work, but bowed anyway. Before he disappeared, he saw her hand reach absently toward the plate with food. His sourly-looking silhouette shimmered into existence in the dining room, where the three people sitting around the table ceased their conversation and looked at him expectantly. "Back already?" Cathy asked. Jadeite pulled out his chair and sat down, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "From Mercury's absence and the way you are pouting, I can already see how much of a success your attempt to coax her toward joining us was," Jered commented and took a sip of tea. "I do not pout," Jadeite growled, frowning at the green-shirted man. "Indeed, indeed. So what did she say she was working on?" Snyder wanted to know. The dark general's frown deepened. "She didn't give me enough time to ask any questions before dismissing me, but said she was making progress." His fingers drummed across the wood of the table while he reflected on what happened. Focusing on Cathy, he said "I just don't understand her. You nearly kill her with your weird ideas of training on a daily basis, but she continues treating you like a friend. I am nothing but polite and supportive, and she barely even talks to me, even while I tutor her!" The swordswoman was still chewing, so Snyder took it onto himself to answer instead. "Well, Cathy isn't evil." "Yes. And the two of you have quite some unpleasant history, if I recall correctly. It's no wonder she doesn't like you," Jered added. The swordswoman looked at her two companions incredulously, then gulped down her food and faced Jadeite. "That's not it at all. Your problem is that she likes you a bit too much." "Oh yes, your mockery is just what I need," the dark general dismissed her statement, scowling. Why again did I expect them to be actually helpful? "Fine, be that way," Cathy said, leaning back with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "I'm sure figuring out the thought processes of a young girl like her will not be complicated at all for a great and powerful general like you." With a little growl from the back of his throat, Jadeite disappeared in a teleportation flash, leaving his half-eaten breakfast behind. Jered looked at his girlfriend. "Are you serious? Mercury is..." trailing off, he pointed at the empty seat, momentarily lost for words. "Afraid so," the scar-faced blonde confirmed succinctly. The wavy-haired man put his heads into his palms and rested his elbows on the table. "That could become troublesome," he groaned. "Well, at least it should be entertaining," Cathy smiled, and loaded her plate with another slice of chicken. ---- Unusual cries of joy echoed through the training hall, coming from the central arena. "I did it! I finally did it!" Within the sandy pit, a gleaming, menacing-looking figure that resembled a metal-encased skeleton stood over her fallen opponent, happily clapping her hands together. The clang of metal reverberated off the walls as the steel gauntlets made contact with each other. Then, the hands went up to the skull-like helmet and removed it, revealing Ami's happily smiling face, and she shook her head to let her blue bangs fall freely. For good measure, she gave the faux-head of the decapitated Reaper puppet a good kick before she went to retrieve her daggers from the leather-covered monstrosity's bulging back. "Nice one!" Cathy congratulated, sitting on the wall surrounding the fighting pit, with the control helmet for the fake Reaper on her lap. "You caught me unaware with that teleport." She slid off the wall and landed on her feet, making a dull thud in the sand. Grinning, she stepped toward the blue-haired girl, whose smile revealed white teeth as she turned toward the blonde. The swordswoman's own grin widened "You somehow forgot to mention that you could already do that, though," she added, getting a little shrug in response that made Ami's pauldrons clatter. The teenager was still riding her adrenaline high and not feeling particularly guilty for springing a surprise on the older woman for once. Gratefully, she accepted the bottle of water that the blonde had brought. "You must have studied very hard with Jadeite," the latter guessed, and watched Mercury nod silently while her cheeks coloured somewhat, and not from exertion. "He really does have a rather charming smile, no?" Ami nodded again, but froze half-way through the motion. Coughing, she spat out water, and with a shocked expression, she turned to fully look at Cathy, whose grin had transformed into that of a shark. "You know?" Ami asked in a tiny voice once she had gained control of her coughing fit. "It's really quite obvious if one knows what to look for," the blonde stated calmly, "which a certain general obviously does not." "You won't tell him, right?" the senshi sputtered, nearing a panic. "Of course not. However," Cathy looked Mercury straight in the eyes, "who knows how things will develop in the future? I don't really know your background or what they teach to girls in your world, so I have to ask, for your own safety: do you know where babies come from?" Poor Mercury, who had just raised the bottle back to her lips, splashed herself in the face and promptly had another coughing fit. With a face as red as a tomato, she stuttered "Y-yes, but I can't believe you- I wouldn't-" Suddenly, her eyes narrowed. "Wait, this is revenge for me surprising you, isn't it?" "Guilty," Cathy admitted, then ducked with a laugh as Ami tried to splash her from the bottle. The blonde broke into a run, and the blue-haired girl playfully gave chase. After a few minutes, she stopped, wincing. "Is something wrong?" the blonde asked, no longer hearing the clanking sounds made by the footsteps of her armoured pursuer. Ami was standing in place, stretching her arms and legs, testing how well the limbs moved. "Well, I didn't notice in the heat of the battle, but the armour's rapid movements really put a lot of stress on my body, " she commented. "It's nothing critical, but the bruises could add up over time. Snyder will be able to heal this up easily, though." "I see. How well is the suit working out for you?" "I still need more training. It can move so fast that my reflexes aren't completely up to the task. I'm improving at getting all of its speed out of it, beyond the limits of what I can normally do, but it's a bit like learning to walk again," Ami explained while peeling off the outer layers of the plate mail. Underneath, she was wearing the leotard of her senshi uniform, devoid of its skirt and ribbons, as they would just get in the way. Cathy nodded. "I will adjust the training plan accordingly. We'll get your coordination in the armour up first before continuing with the combat training." ---- Two days later, Ami's closest advisers had joined her in the living room. Jered and Cathy shared a couch, while Jadeite and Snyder each had opted for one of the armchairs on opposite sides of the room. All four were looking with interest at Mercury, who had called them together for an unscheduled meeting. The blue-haired girl was sitting at the table, covering one hand with the other. She left them together when she stood up and looked at the curious faces, shrinking in on herself a bit at being the centre of attention. "I have made an important breakthrough, and I called all of you here because I value your opinion," she announced. Without further ado, she produced two shoebox-sized objects and put them next to each other on the desk. One was a miniature model of the dungeon heart her employees were familiar with. A circular wall surrounded a well-like pit, in which an organic red membrane would have been beating if this had been a real dungeon heart. Three evenly-spaced pillars supported its arching superstructure. The right model showed something like a crystal ball resting on a central dais, surrounded by four pillars, one on each corner. "This," she pointed at the glittering, unfamiliar construct, "is what dungeon hearts on the Avatar Islands look like. As you can immediately see, there are two obvious differences, aside from the looks." Obligingly, the others leaned forward, showing interest. "First, the old-style dungeon heart lacks an area that can receive and convert gold, and requires an external supplement. Second, and more importantly, it is not alive, and I am therefore fairly sure that I know how to create one." "That's great," Jered cheered immediately, "no more need to beg some dark gods for favour." "Congratulations," Snyder said, but the red-headed acolyte didn't look too happy at the prospect of more dungeon hearts being created. "There is more to this, I assume?" Jadeite wondered, peering at the two objects on the table with a raised eyebrow. "Yes," Ami nodded, "those are only the most obvious external differences. There are many functional ones. The new-style dungeon hearts I have been working with are far more sophisticated and user-friendly than the older ones, meaning that I won't be able to port over my existing room designs. Or so my simulations lead me to believe, I haven't been able to test any of this in practice yet," she acknowledged. "Most of the differences stem from the fact that one is alive and the other is not. Most problematically, the old style hearts have no ability to work with mana. None. That ability is apparently a function that's inextricably linked to life, or in some cases unlife," Ami said, "meaning that I cannot patch it in later." "What are the exact drawbacks of that?" Cathy wanted to know. "Well, it means that the artefact requires gold or similarly valuable objects, like gems or precious metals, for everything, including maintenance and powering magic. While our treasury is currently full, the need for riches will probably be unsustainable in the long run. The Avatar Isles were completely strip-mined by the different Keepers there, and with no resources, their power has been broken." "Oh? Why did no new-style Keepers take over?" Jered asked. "I haven't been able to determine that yet," Ami admitted. "I assume that one or two Keepers are still holed up somewhere and are hoarding their resources to fend off invasions. Besides, there's nothing on those lands that would be worth the effort." The weasel-featured man nodded and sank back in his seat. "However, there could be a different reason. Despite their more primitive nature, old-style dungeon hearts are more magically powerful than new-style ones, provided that they have enough fuel. My research suggests that this is a consequence of them being more 'worldly', in a way." Seeing nothing but blank faces, she explained "A summoned imp dissipates back into mana when killed. If it was summoned with an old heart, the corpse would remain, as it was made from transmuted real material." "Intriguing, but is this useful in practice?" Snyder wanted to know. "In some cases, yes. You could survive on conjured food, for example," Mercury answered. "There is another drawback to the gold-only system, though," she continued. "One of my big advantages is my rapid mana regeneration rate. It will be much less useful in this situation, as the heart can't use it. In fact, without the reservoir inside the heart, I might no longer be able to power the Shabon Spray Freezing. With any luck, I could use the tiara created by my transformation to fuel the heart, though." "All of these drawbacks sound rather crippling," Jadeite commented. "Do old-style hearts have any redeeming features?" "I was getting to that," the blue-haired girl resumed her lecture. "Most of them are related to the dark gods. Them not being involved, that is. First, I don't need their favour, and can create new hearts when I have the resources. Second, I have determined how to block their power out completely." Somewhat chagrined, she continued "However, doing so will also prevent me from summoning imps to do my bidding, as the evil spirits that animate them also come from the dark gods." Jered interrupted once again "That sounds really impractical; how will you dig out more rooms and claim territory without them?" "I can replicate their picks, and any creature can do the claiming if it knows the right procedures, so that is not an insurmountable problem. I am more worried about losing access to ice golems, as they are derived from the imp-creation spell. Maybe an offshoot of the anti-reaper armour project could be adapted to replace them, " Ami continued on a more hopeful note. "Then, there is the corruption issue. I think I know how the surface dwellers got around it, but unfortunately, that option was lost to me the moment I bonded with the first dungeon heart." "Why is that?" Snyder demanded to know, being most interested in the metaphysical aspects of the issue. Ami wrung her hands anxiously "That would be because my soul is somewhere in the realm of darkness, as the Light gods told me," Ami explained, "so the dungeon heart is drawing power from there. The heroes had their soul in this world, so it drew power from here. There's not much I can do about this until I get my soul back." "Oh." For once, the redhead was at a loss for words. Breaking the gloomy mood, Ami continued "I have been thinking a lot about the corruption problem since I saw what the Avatar Islands have turned into. Keepers have some control over how it manifests. Malleus' desert is completely different from the hellish landscape of the Islands, for example. I think I know enough about the heart design to modify it and give me more control. Or at least direct it away from anything important." She stopped talking and looked around. "I was hoping to hear what you think I should do." References Source: http://addventure.bast-enterprises.de/229819.html Attached comments: *Upon re-reading, I don't see where I said one thing where I meant another. However, I think you are right that clearer terminology would be helpful. I have no idea how to change an already-posted episode, though. In the meantime, here's a clarifying overview of all the points brought up: Organic heart: -alive -uses mana & gold -has mana reservoir -is what Ami currently uses -more user-friendly -comes with an in-built area to absorb gold -needs Spark of Life from dark gods to create -cannot block dark god influence due to black-box nature Crystal heart: -not alive -no ability to use or store mana -Ami goes back to regular Shabon Spray (fog) -uses gold/gems/exclusively for everything -needs external treasury to actually use gold -Ami can (probably) create them on her own -no room designs researched yet -more powerful -conjurations are real, rather than dissipating back into motes -can block out dark god's influence, at the cost of no more imps -improved control over corruption There's nothing really stopping Ami from using a combination of the two types - if she avoids angering the dark gods again. *''Didn't the Crystal heart also have the disadvantage that she couldn't do Keeper teleports anymore? Doesn't seem like a big issue with her learning to teleport from Jadeite but would this include her ability to move her minions as well?'' No, the crystal heart is just as good at moving stuff around as the organic one, maybe even a bit better. (OOC, this is a nod to the differences between DK1 and DK2 game mechanics) *''Well, one way is to use some more skeleton based parts for a first gen modeled Dungeon Heart. As for a second gen, what about going the DNA cloning way? Basicaly using necromatic spells as a basis to clone some of her body's flesh/blood/ect into a "Dungeon Heart" look. This would give her a '"Organic Crystal" Heart' and thus allow her to use Mana. '' That wouldn't work. Look doesn't matter, the result would not be alive. She might as well put a potted plant on top of the crystal heart for all the good it would do. It's not just the membrane that's alive for the organic version, it's the complete heart, stone, metal and all. Developing that kind of magic is beyond her. Say, didn't her first three Dungeon Hearts have a Mana pool? Seems to me that could be used for Mana batery research. Yes, they do, and she's using them. Batteries are workable, as mana can be stored in dead things (but they can't use it), but it's tricky. Hence the problem with powering the armour from batteries alone. As for room designs, incopperate a pc, doesn't mather if it's magical. '' PCs are extremely complex devices, and I kind of doubt she'd want to spend a few decades researching and designing one. Simple microchip-equivalents with a low number of transistors perhaps, if she finds a use for them, but PCs, no. She already has the Mercury computer to do her research with. As for magical computers, eh. Maybe Jadeite could make one, Dark Kingdom magic seems to be of the "it just works" variety. But it woold poofle away as soon as he stopped maintaining it. ''Now as for Imp's, it seems there are quite a few dead bodies laying around everywere, what about using a seleton spirit for the "Imp Creation Spell"? Skeletons are made from living creatures killed in a specific way, so that their tormented spirit is bound to the bones. This poses certain ethical problems, to say the least. To clarify, the magical armour is not using an actual skeleton spirit, but is derivative work that copies some of the principles that allow the skeleton to move its limbs. Adding bone dust make those mechanisms work better. It has no spirit or will of its own, which is why someone needs to wear the control helmet to make it move. *''Hey, you got spells that change mana into things like lightning and so. Could this also be done in reverse? '' I'll have to think about the implications of this first before I can give a definite answer. *''Are you meaning humaniod or could it be any form as long as you keep to the Skeleton rules? I'm thinking about what Lucas did with those alien creatures in Star-Wars Episode-1.'' If you have a humanoid golem, you want a humanoid skeleton. If you have a spider golem, you could probably use its exoskeleten, even if it doesn't have real bones. Just make sure the used skeleton matches the form of whatever you are making. *''Can a undead Zeppelin O' Doom be made? Same applications as the Armor bone/ metal frame? The lessening of corruption, can it be made to change to be more visible? Enhance the effect of Mercury's cloaking abilities? Cloud the area without damage? '' Probably, but it's extremeley low priority. The enemy is underground. *''What she needs to do, once she starts to have enough time to work on it, is to try and figure out how the connection to the Organic Heart allows her to access her Doom-Tree Arc powers. '' She knows this, it was explained at one point. Uh, let me put it like this: (numbers completely arbitrary, only there to illustrate what I mean) Shabon Spray Cost: 10 mana Shabon Spray Freezing cost: 50 mana Sailor Mercury's mana per second: 20 Dungeon Heart Reservoir: holds 100 mana So she hasn't access to enough mana on her own to cast Freezing, but while connected to the dungeon heart, she can draw the missing mana from there. Then the pool in the dungeon heart refills with the mana flowing into her over time. I hope this was clear enough. So a battery should be able to do it, if she can find a way to plug it into herself. *''It would be kinda interesting if she paired up an old style heart with a new style one.'' Well, she can't make the organic (new-style) ones. Couldn't she learn the Create Gold spell herself and use it to power an old style Heat or two? I thought she regains a lot faster then a normal new style Dungeon Keeper do to her Sailor Mercury powers. Whether the crystal dungeon heart version accepts conjured gold remains to be tested. *''Hmm... now I'm curious... if Ami could artificially make a large enough mana pool, would she be capable of pulling out a Shine Aqua Illusion?'' Hmm, I think that attack was unlocked with a new transformation during R. I'd say it would to work, but without the new transformation items, she might not instinctively know the right incantation. Not that she really needs a direct damage spell, she can learn enough of those from the Keeper side of her magic. Chapter 052: Research Breakthroughs Category:Ami Category:Cathy Category:Jadeite Category:Jered Category:Snyder